Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho urged banks to give more loans to businesses in order to fight the country's recession and increase the amount of credit flowing through the economy, AFP reported April 14.

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will make a televised speech April 7 regarding the high court's block of austerity plans presented in the country's 2013 budget, The Telegraph reported.

Exports from Greece grew 11 percent in the first eight months of the year while imports fell 13 percent, Reuters reported Nov. 16.

The Bank of China has issued an 800 million euro ($1.035 billion) loan to Portuguese power company Energias de Portugal, an Oct. 24 company filing said, Macau Hub reported.

The Portuguese government approved new proposals for its 2013 budget that will be tabled in parliament Oct. 15, Xinhua reported Oct. 11.

Eurozone states approved the release of 800 million euros ($1.036 billion) of bailout funding to Portugal, Lusa reported Oct. 9.

More than 100,000 people throughout Portugal's cities, including Lisbon and Porto, protested against new austerity measures Sept. 15, AFP reported.

Anti-austerity protests are scheduled to occur the evening of Sept. 15 in the main squares of 25 Portuguese cities, Lusa News reported Sept. 14.

Portugal has been given more time to narrow its budget deficit as tax revenues failed to meet predicted levels and the national economy heads toward a third year of contraction in 2013, Bloomberg reported Sept. 11.

Portugal's economy contracted by 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2012, according to Portugal's National Statistics Institute, Macauhub reported Aug. 15. The statistics show a contraction of 1.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product against the first quarter, caused by lower internal demand. Also in the second quarter, Portugal's unemployment rate rose to 15 percent of the active population from 14.9 percent in the first quarter, meaning there are over 820,000 people without work, the institute said.